Population
See also Globalization and Entrepreneurshipalso Colonialism
and Third World Development and Food Scarcity
Population is an important topic, since in general more people mean more resource use. However, wealthy people use far more resources per capita than poor ones, and trying to control population is hard ethically and practically (for example, China's longstanding one child policy). Fortunately, as food security rises and infant mortality rates fall, so do fertility rates, since people have a greater assurance that they will have children to help (often on farms) and to support them in their old age, since there are no pensions or Social Security systems. it is a complex problem, but educating women is very close to the proverbial magic bullet.
Contents
Websites
Interactive, Maps and Infographics
Gapminder.org (see its creator Rosling in TEDtalk videos).
Care2 gives various kinds of eco and demographic info based on geography.
If the world's population lived in one city (different densities).
World Maps (other maps)
Atlas of Global Inequality Ben Crow and others UC folk are creating this.
AAAS Atlas of Population & Environment
Books
Living within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos(1995) by Garrett Hardin (of Tragedy of the Commons fame). More recent is The Ostrich Factor: Our Population Myopia.
"The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do To Avoid It," by Julian Cribb. NYT review.
In his new book, World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse, Earth Policy Institute's Lester Brown looks at the state of the world's resources ( a "food bubble"), warning that the outlook does not look good when it comes to feeding the world's population.
Thomas Keneally, author of Three Famines: Starvation and Politics, about the modern history of famines. author interview 10/11
Lectures
College 8 Plenary 2010 Nov. 9 "On Population," Jade Sasser, UC Berkeley. Short article on population, health and global warming.
Reading: Hartmann "10 Reasons Why Population Control is not the Solution to Global Warming", Hart "Treading on Taboo," and Petroni "An Ethical Approach to Population and Climate Change " (password required)
Audio
Interview with Betsy Hartmann, who interrogates whether overpopulation is a main cause of our ecological woes (also links to articles). 7/11
7 Billion And Counting: Can Earth Handle It? Link 1/11 NPR segment and slideshow
Articles and Reports
New UN Report foresees shortages of food and fuel. 1/12
Resources Revolution is a report that explains how we can shift production sustainably to meet future needs.
Overview/update by Robert J. Walker is the executive vice president of the Population Institute. 10/11
We can feed 10 billion, but we have to change.
Population Projections Vary (9/20/11) "Leading demographers, including those at the United Nations and the U.S. Census Bureau, are projecting that world population will peak at 9.5 billion to 10 billion later this century and then gradually decline as poorer countries develop. But what if those projections are too optimistic?"
Carl Haub, who was senior demographer at the Population Reference Bureau for three decades, wants you to think the unthinkable. What if the vaunted "demographic transition" that's supposed to be an inevitable part of countries' economic and social development doesn't materialize?
This transition has happened in all developed countries, leading birth rates to go to around two children per couple or less -- the point at which a country's population becomes stable or shrinks. If it happens world-wide, world population stabilizes. If it doesn't, well, can the earth really handle more than 10 billion people?More
New UN report predicts population will top 10 billion.
World Population Day: A Connection Between Global Warming And Overpopulation? 7/11.
Preliminary results from China's census reveal a population that is older, rapidly urbanizing, and growing more slowly, with a widening gap between male and female births. Those demographic changes, combined with comments Tuesday by President Hu Jintao, suggest the country's controversial one-child policy may be on its way out. Science Mag 4/11
Lester Brown on family planning 4/11.
Grist article 1/11 with links to National Geographic etc.
"The world is one poor harvest away from chaos" by Lester Brown "In early January, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that its Food Price Index had reached an all-time high in December, exceeding the previous record set during the 2007-08 price surge. Even more alarming, on Feb. 3, the FAO announced that the December record had been broken in January as prices climbed an additional 3 percent. Will this rise in food prices continue in the months ahead? In all likelihood, we will see further rises that will take the world into uncharted territory in the relationship between food prices and political stability..." More 2/11. Note that food prices were in part responsible for Tunisia etc uprisings.
Mother Jones Magazine has a series of articles on population (5/10)One of the authors participated in a radio panel 5/10 . There's a consensus that Earth doesn't have enough resources to support the world's growing population -- but there's disagreement about the root of the problem. Some think the problem lies with the growing third world, others that it is the consumption habits of the developed nations that cause the problem. More.
Petroni, Suzanne "An Ethical Approach to Population and Climate Change " (Requires College 8 password)
J.A. Goldstone "The New Population Bomb" Foreign Affairs, Jan/Feb 2010 Accessible via UCSC library.
Climate-change planning should include family planning grist 4/11.
Growing a Better Future: Food justice in a Resource-Constrained World 5/11 report from Oxfam.
Video
Hans Rosling video and other links. Here are so more amusing and opinionated takes videos.
PBS Newshour coverage 10/11 update: Food for 9 Billion: Turning the Population Tide in the Philippines 1/12.
Julia Whitty debates on PBS Need to Know. 7/11
If the earth were 100 people video.
World in Balance PBS Nova.
Sir David Attenborough: People and the Planet. 3/11
The Most Important Video You'll Ever See" posted by the fellow who made the similarly titled viral video on global warming.
The new film "Mother: Caring Our Way Out of the Population Dilemma" takes a feminist/humanist view as it explores the issue of our exploding numbers. 5/11.
Does the average American have any idea what the global population is? Watch and see.
Online Courses
Global Problems of Population Growth: This Yale survey course introduces students to the important and basic material on human fertility, population growth, the demographic transition and population policy. Topics include: the human and environmental dimensions of population pressure, demographic history, economic and cultural causes of demographic change, environmental carrying capacity and sustainability. Political, religious and ethical issues surrounding fertility are also addressed. The lectures and readings attempt to balance theoretical and demographic scale analysis with studies of individual humans and communities. The perspective is global with both developed and developing countries included.
